Fate: Hero of Justice Takeover-Chapter 235: [] The Kidnapper Gets a Brutal Beating

A cute little girl shrank in the bathtub, covering her chest with both hands.

A white-haired priest lay on the ground, pretending to be unconscious.

And a red gemstone staff floated in the air, striking a seductive pose.

If Sakatsuki hadn't secretly set up a soundproof barrier, who knows what kind of commotion Liz and Sella would have caused upon hearing the noise.

"Sigh~ It actually dodged? I was hoping to wrap this up quickly."

"Eh?" Illya, who was curling up like a quail with teardrops at the corners of her eyes, waited for a response that never came. Then she heard a strange voice and looked up in confusion.

Between her and Sakatsuki, a peculiar staff with three pairs of wings and a five-pointed star in a circular frame floated, chattering to itself.

"But why does the guy lying on the ground seem so familiar? Oh well, no big deal."

Though it had no pupils, the strange magical staff clearly refocused its attention on Illya, its voice taking on the exaggerated enthusiasm of an old man trying to lure a little girl into watching goldfish.

"Nice to meet you! I am the staff of love and justice, Magical Ruby! Little girl over there, do you want to try becoming a magical girl?"

Illya stared at the suspicious creature in front of her, eyes widened, frozen in place.

Meanwhile, the red gemstone staff maintained its "charming" pose, its gemstone eyes inlaid in the circular frame gazing at Illya with deep affection.

Stare—

Seeing that Illya remained unresponsive as if her system had crashed, the red gemstone staff decided to keep flaunting itself.

"Are you my companion? Become a magical girl and join me in defeating those I deem evil~"

The overly sugary words finally made Illya show an expression of disgust.

"So fake."

Neither the staff nor the person tangled with it noticed that the priest playing dead in the background was furiously scratching the floor with his fingers, almost carving out a full three-bedroom, one-living-room floor plan.

In the distance, sirens sounded, accompanied by the barking of dogs from nearby homes, bringing a slight sense of life to the nearly frozen scene in the bathroom.

Illya maintained her defensive stance, arms wrapped around her chest, as she squinted at the still-swaying red gemstone staff.

So... the staff's shaft can bend? Can something like this even be held by hand?!

And also...

"What exactly is going on here?"

"Ah—did you just think, 'So fake'?"

"N-No..." Illya, staring at the increasingly closer red gemstone, instinctively wanted to refute, but in the end, she nodded honestly. "Yeah."

"So sad... Are there no more easily deceived girls who yearn to be magical girls in this era?" The red gemstone's wings drooped, looking dejected.

But Sakatsuki was no longer paying attention to them.

Fine, let's keep pretending to be unconscious. Once Illya transforms and runs out of the bathroom, I'll take the opportunity to slip away.

Before that, I should continue thinking about my earlier question—whether the Third Magic can be turned into a portable Mystic Code.

The Third Magic originally did have a Mystic Code—the Heaven's Feel.

When Sakatsuki fought Nameless, he once sacrificed the souls of seven Heroic Spirits to summon a Heaven's Feel connected to the Greater Grail. Of course, it wasn't the version used by Irisviel. The Heaven's Feel could transform according to its master's will.

However, the conditions for summoning the Heaven's Feel were far too stringent—just collecting the souls of seven Heroic Spirits was incredibly difficult. Sakatsuki had to sacrifice all the Class Cards he brought from Einzbern just to barely meet the requirements.

After all, he wasn't a true user of the Third Magic.

Therefore, he needed a more convenient and effective Mystic Code to wield the power of the Third Magic.

That was why he intercepted the red/blue gemstone staffs. As relics of the Marshal of Magic, they held immense research value even if they couldn't be replicated.

Now was the time to test Sakatsuki's skill in magecraft.

Just as he was contemplating the construction of the Mystic Code, he suddenly sensed someone trying to undress him.

...Huh?!

A buried memory resurfaced—Ruby once lifted Shirou's bath towel in front of Illya to collect a blood sample!

And now, since he had taken Shirou's place... Don't tell me—?

Indeed, as Sakatsuki feared, after undoing his priest robe, the mischievous red gemstone staff was inching its handle toward his pants!

If I move now, Illya will notice. Hold it in... hold it in...

'Like hell I will!'

Furious, Sakatsuki's right hand struck out like lightning, smashing Ruby into the ground with a forceful slap!

Boom!"

A deafening impact resounded, and the entire house seemed to shake.

"Uwah!" Ruby screamed, lying in a crater of radiating cracks, while Illya, frightened, fell back into the bathtub. She nervously looked at the previously amiable but now cold-eyed, golden-pupiled priest.

"I just let you go, and you're already acting up, Ruby?"

"You—you're that guy...!"

"Correct. Now, die without regrets, trash!"

With the power of a dragonkind body, every one of Sakatsuki's punches landed like a pile driver. The repeated crashes sent cracks spiderwebbing across the bathroom floor, and the force of the shockwave blew Illya's hair into disarray. The recoil even bounced her up before she landed heavily back in the tub, her bottom aching.

"W-Wait, Sakatsuki-oniichan!"

"Ora ora ora ora!" After venting his anger, Sakatsuki finally released his fist, exhaling slowly as he looked at the barely-breathing Ruby in the nearly meter-deep pit.

"That felt good."

Turning around, Illya didn't even care about her state of dress anymore. She just gawked at the wrecked bathroom and the obviously inhuman-eyed Sakatsuki, her small mouth slightly open, completely at a loss.

"W-What is going on...?"

"Nothing. Just a dream." With that, Sakatsuki traced a rune of forgetfulness. "Sleep now. When you wake up, the story will continue as usual."

He wasn't just acting on impulse—if he dared to do this, he had confidence in cleaning up the aftermath.

Under the influence of magecraft, the still-ordinary Illya soon drifted into slumber. Sakatsuki ignored her flat chest, turned around, and picked up the half-dead Ruby with two fingers, full of disdain.

"Stop playing dead. Without a special ritual, your consciousness won't dissipate."

"Ruby-chan will never surrender!" Even after suffering such inhumane treatment, Ruby remained defiant. "No matter what you ask, I won't agree!"

"No, you will." Sakatsuki flashed a sinister smile. "Unless... you want to soak in a septic tank."

"Eeek!"

"Looks like we have an agreement. Heh... Pleasant cooperation."

A short while later, the bathroom was restored to its original state. When Illya woke up, the person who had been lying there was already gone.

***

Dressed neatly and with bright eyes, the young priest rode the Sword in the Stone, speeding through the quiet night.

As for the magical girl affairs, he had no intention of meddling too much. Ruby and Illya, Sapphire and Miyu—they would form deep bonds without his interference.

However, the issue of the Class Cards still nagged at him.

Unlike the eight Class Cards in the original story, this world contained many additional dangerous cards, seemingly placed there by Ainsworth's own will.

But for what purpose? Were they trying to use them as anchors to construct a pathway between two worlds?

The knowledge inherited from Ainsworth provided an answer, yet Sakatsuki's intuition told him their ambitions were far greater.

This was a crisis only he perceived—one he had to bear responsibility for.

"So—"

Stopping his ride at the church entrance, he locked eyes with a silver-haired nun under the moonlight.

"Let's go. To the next leyline anomaly."

"Understood."

The two departed, vanishing into the vast night.

However, hours later, a grim-faced Sakatsuki stepped out of a displacement space and hurried toward the church.

"Danzou, bring the medical kit! Quickly!"

In his arms, covered in blood, Kirei's daughter Caren curled up weakly, barely breathing.

***

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